


The Purrfect Roommate

by AlexiaBlackbriar13



Series: lexi's summer sizzle fics [8]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Basically this fic is Oliver vs Felicity's cat, Best Friends to Lovers, Cuddling & Snuggling, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Felicity Smoak Has A Cat, Living Together, Olicity Summer Sizzle, Post-Season/Series 02, Roommates, Sharing an apartment, Sort of canon divergent because being roommates speeds shit up, The cat hates Oliver, Unresolved Sexual Tension, season 2.5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 05:47:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19900804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlexiaBlackbriar13/pseuds/AlexiaBlackbriar13
Summary: Season 2.5. Oliver moves into Felicity's apartment with her when she discovers he's been sleeping on the floor in the Foundry. Felicity is a great roommate. Her cat Apollo... not so much.





	The Purrfect Roommate

**Author's Note:**

> for the roommates prompt for the olicity summer sizzle!!!
> 
> yeah this was meant to be a roommates au but then sort of just turned into oliver vs felicitys cat lol. he and felicity are still roommates though, so it counts :)
> 
> hope you enjoy!

A month or so after they save Starling City once again from Slade and his Mirakuru army - and by extension, a month after Oliver told Felicity he loved her as a ploy to fool the villain, but is still in denial about the fact that he hadn’t exactly been lying - Felicity discovers that Oliver is sleeping down in the Foundry on the floor.

His mother is dead and Thea is off traveling Europe, so Oliver has the Queen mansion to himself, but it’s up on the housing market to be sold, since Queen Consolidated remains in flux. The archer also doesn’t fancy staying in that huge empty mansion by himself, especially since most of their family belongings have now been moved into storage. He’s much more comfortable living down in the Foundry, despite the lack of proper facilities.

Felicity is outraged and appalled that Oliver hasn’t informed her and Diggle of his situation. She immediately offers to buy him a bed, if he’s going to insist on living in the Foundry. Oliver declines. He argues that first it will be a bed, but then Felicity might feel obligated to buy him more furniture, and he won’t stand for that. They end up having a heated, very sexually charged shouting match, breathing heavily and barely inches from each other’s faces; Oliver’s eyes flicker down to Felicity’s lips too many times to count, and Felicity swallows and bites her lip as the archer looms over her at full height, feeling, perhaps, more aroused than is really appropriate.

After twenty minutes of this, they finally come to an agreement. Oliver will move into Felicity’s apartment on the outskirts of the Glades with her, taking up her spare second bedroom. They’ll split the rent and bills to ensure everything is fair. It will also be incredibly convenient for traveling back and forth to the Foundry together, and also to the local library, where they’ve taken to studying business and economics books together in preparation for Oliver to try and take back the CEO position at QC; living together means they can also study at home easily and it will be easier for them to hang out in the evenings, as they’ve started to do more often.

Oliver expects Felicity to be an excellent roommate, and to nobody’s surprise, she’s great. She’s a relatively clean and tidy person when it comes to her own living space, and gives Oliver full command over the kitchen, so he can cook them dinner and plan meals for them both which fits their food budget. Although it’s a little awkward when Oliver walks around the apartment shirtless - Felicity always flushes deep crimson and stares at him with an almost hungry look in her eyes, before stuttering out an excuse that allows her to promptly leave - they’re best friends, and despite the romantic edge that’s developed between them, the two of them have pretty much no boundaries anymore that makes living together wonderfully easy.

What Oliver doesn’t expect, is Felicity’s demonic cat.

He didn’t know that Felicity has a cat. She’s had the feline for a pet ever since Oliver returned to Starling from the island, but due to the cat being quite solitary and mostly independent, there’s never been a time that Felicity has needed to bring him up in conversation. The cat is a short-haired tabby called Apollo. Felicity claims the name has nothing to do with Team Arrow, and that it's a complete coincidence that it's archery related; the shelter named him, and the cat has a sibling called Artemis.

Apollo only really hangs out in the living room in the early mornings and late evenings, so he can be fed and drink some water. He sleeps in Felicity’s bedroom at the foot of her bed. The rest of the time, he wanders the streets surrounding the complex like a lone wolf; Felicity tells Oliver that she tried to keep him as a house cat, but Apollo is a little escape artist and if he wants to go outside, there’s nobody who can stop him.

Felicity’s cat is _evil_. Oliver is certain that he’s Satan spawn. Apollo is one of those temperamental cats who loves you one moment, and hates you the next. Sometimes, when Oliver is reading on the couch in the living room, Apollo will saunter over and curl up on his lap, rubbing his furry body over Oliver’s stomach. But as soon as the archer attempts to stroke him, the tabby will swivel around with an angry yowl and rake his claws into Oliver’s hand. He alternates sharply between weaving through Oliver’s legs as he walks to attacking his shins and hissing wildly.

“Your cat is half-feral,” Oliver tells Felicity one morning, eyeing the cat warily. Apollo sits on the table next to the blonde, watching her drink her coffee. His tail darts back and forth in a similar way it does whenever he waits for Oliver to emerge from the shower, getting ready to pounce on his wet, exposed feet. “I swear I’ve got more scars from him than actual criminals, at this point.”

“He had a rough life as a kitten,” Felicity replies, sipping her caffeine and scratching under Apollo’s chin. The cat _mreows_ softly, butting his head into her palm. Oliver watches in disbelief. At this point, the devilish feline would be attempting to tear his fingers off. He clearly adores Felicity - which means he must despise Oliver. “He’s a rescue, you know. It just means he’s skitterish and nervous around new people. That doesn’t make him half-feral, though. I promise he’ll warm up to you, Oliver.”

The archer narrows his eyes and slowly reaches out with a hand to pet the cat’s back. Apollo’s fur immediately stands on end and he growls fiercely, baring his fangs. Oliver shoots Felicity a pointed, exasperated look. Frowning, the blonde musses the fur on Apollo’s hindquarters before smoothing his bristling pelt down. Within seconds, the tabby is back to purring happily again.

Apollo isn’t enough of a nuisance for Oliver to consider moving out. He can tolerate the cat as long as he and the feline stay out of each other’s way.

Possibly the most annoying thing about living with the cat is the fact that Apollo loves to steal and destroy his socks. Oliver _loves_ his socks. Memories of terrible nights on Lian Yu with freezing cold, soaking wet feet and the risk of losing toes to frostbite constantly remind the archer that socks are very valuable - at least, they are to him. Apollo treats them as 50 cent chew toys. No matter whether or not Oliver closes and locks his bedroom door, the cat always ends up slipping in there and climbing into his sock drawer to tear them apart.

Felicity apologizes profusely when they find one of Oliver’s favorite pairs of socks in shreds in Apollo’s litter tray, one evening. Apollo lies serenely in her arms, with an innocent mask on his face. “He’s never done this before. I’m so sorry, Oliver. I can try and stop him -”

“It’s fine,” Oliver cuts in, trying not to allow his emotions to overwhelm him, because those socks were a pair his mom got him at Christmas and now she’s dead, he treasured them even more. “He’s just acting out. I’ll get some child safety locks for my drawers so he can’t open them anymore.”

“Let me pay for them,” Felicity says. She looks incredibly guilty. “Apollo’s my cat. He’s destroying your property and I feel terrible - as your roommate and your best friend, I feel responsible. You should definitely let me buy them for you.”

Staring down at the ruined socks in his hand, Oliver just nods silently.

Felicity truly appears close to tears. Apollo mews and tries to clamber up onto her shoulder to rub up against her cheek comfortingly, but the blonde tuts at him chidingly, placing him on the floor. Apollo plonks down onto his butt with a confused trill, batting at his owner’s foot. Felicity wipes at her eyes, sniffling quietly, and steps away. She takes Oliver’s hand and leading him into the living room so they can give his socks a proper send-off. A sock funeral. Oliver trails behind the blonde, their fingers entwined, and ignores Apollo as he follows them at a trot, continuing to meow in bewilderment.

As Oliver and Felicity snuggle up on the couch together, the two of them sharing a blanket while Felicity curls up against the archer’s shoulder, the tabby attempts to jump up onto the cushions to join them. At first, neither of them mind. But then, Oliver leans back to wrap his arm around Felicity’s shoulders, and in response, Apollo hisses and swipes at him.

The cat’s razor claws catch Oliver’s sweater, but luckily don’t break skin.

“Apollo, no!” Felicity shouts, her eyes wide with shock and horror. She hastily stands to grab the cat and dump him back down onto the floor. “Oliver has been nothing but patient with you since he moved in, and you’ve still been awful to him!”

Apollo arches his back, his ears flipping back to his skull as he hisses once again. His body tenses and he whips his ramrod-straight tail side to side aggressively. Felicity only becomes more upset. She picks the tabby up and places him into her bedroom, closing the door behind.

“You don’t have to punish him because he doesn’t like me,” Oliver tells her tiredly. “They say that cats can sense the darkness inside people. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s suspicious of me. I’d be protective of you too if a random guy with a black heart started hanging around.”

Felicity hits him. Not hard, but it’s a decent swat to his shoulder. Oliver fakes pain and massages the area with a pout. “Don’t you dare insult yourself like that! You are not a dark person, Oliver, and your heart is beautiful and full of love and light. Because of everything you’ve suffered through, you hold things close to your chest, and just find it hard to express your emotions sometimes.”

They spend the rest of the evening watching the first three Harry Potter movies together, and fall asleep cuddling. Fortunately, it’s a Friday night so they can sleep in the next day, and aren’t expected by Diggle at the Foundry until noon. The pair stir groggily from their slumbers at the same time, waking to discover Apollo perched on the coffee table in front of them, watching them with piercing eyes. They’re in a rather compromising position, with Felicity resting on top of Oliver with her legs bracing his hips and head tucked under his chin. Sexual tension has been brewing between them ever since Oliver’s fake-but-not-fake confession in the Queen mansion and this might be the closest they’ve got to resolving it. But once they’re fully conscious again, the two of them are quick to separate, Felicity sliding off the archer’s lap and onto the couch beside him with flushed cheeks.

The cat does not appear pleased by this. “ _Mreow_ ,” Apollo exclaims his distaste.

“Good morning to you, too,” Oliver greets him in a gruff voice.

The tabby stares at him briefly before wheeling around and raising his tail, showing the archer his butt in a clear dismissal.

To Oliver’s absolute astonishment, within a week, the sock decimation stops. They don’t even need to get the child safety locks - Apollo doesn’t break into his drawers anymore at all. That doesn’t mean the cat stops breaking into his bedroom, though. Often he’ll arrive home late at night with Felicity after his Arrow patrols to find the feline curled up at the end of his bed, as if waiting for him. Apollo will instantly start spitting and snarling at Oliver if he tries to pet him, but if he remains undisturbed, the cat stays silent and doesn’t seem to mind the archer’s companionship. He even lingers at the foot of the bed when Oliver sleeps in it. 

“What does it mean that Apollo has started frequenting my bedroom?” the archer asks Felicity, as they make brownies together.

“That he’s beginning to trust you,” Felicity responds. She looks surprised at the news, however. “Is that why he hasn’t been sleeping with me? Has he been sleeping with you instead?”

He nods. “Yeah. It’s kind of freaking me out.”

Felicity breaks out into a grin, bumping her hip with Oliver’s and winding her arm around his so she can prop her chin against his shoulder. “Maybe the two grumpy cats are finally getting used to each other’s company.”

“I am _not_ a grumpy cat,” Oliver glares half-heartedly at her, bumping her back. Due to being larger and weighing more, he accidentally pushes her off balance. Felicity sends him a fake-hurt, irritated look, making him smile and kiss her forehead in apology. “Okay… maybe I’m a little grumpy.”

The biggest shift in Oliver and Apollo’s relationship occurs two weeks after the cat starts to sleep on the archer’s bed. Exhausted after a long day of studying at the library and a long night beating down violent drug dealers, Oliver is sleep-deprived and dazed; he’s entirely spaced out as he moves around doing his normal morning routine on autopilot. Absentmindedly brushing his teeth in the living room as he waits for Felicity to finish up in the shower, he stumbles over to the couch, where Apollo is curled up observing him. Without even realizing what he’s doing, Oliver scoops up the cat with one hand so she can take a seat himself, and then drops him down on his lap, stroking over his back.

“Oh my god!” Felicity cries, as soon as she emerges from the bathroom in her dressing growl with her hair a wet birds nest piled on top of her head. “Apollo’s letting you stroke him?”

“Hmm?” Oliver peers down sleepily at the feline, who is purring at the scratches he’s receiving. It takes a beat for the realization to strike him. He startles, jaw dropping. “He hasn’t tried to claw me once.”

“My boys are getting along!” Felicity jumps up and down in excitement. “This is great! This is amazing!” She hurries over to drop a kiss to Oliver’s cheek, causing his breath to hitch, and then kiss Apollo’s head as well, between his ears. The cat mews pleasedly. “We have to celebrate. Oliver, I’m taking you out for dinner tonight. My treat! I’m just - so incredibly happy right now.”

His heart soars. “R-Really?” 

“Yeah! Only after you take a restful nap, though. You look dead on your feet.”

“ _Mreow_ ,” Apollo agrees, kneading his paws against Oliver’s thighs with his claws retracted and nowhere in sight.

“You have to nap too,” Oliver negotiates. “You’ve slept as little as I have recently.”

Felicity huffs, but drops down onto the cushions beside him, resting her forehead on his chest. “Fine. But we’re both using your bed because I think mine’s busted a spring or something and I’m too tired to fix it.”

They end up napping through most of the late morning and early afternoon napping side by side on Oliver’s bed. Halfway through their nap, Felicity migrates across the sheets until she’s half on top of the archer, one of her legs hooked around his. She snores adorably, drooling into Oliver’s shirt, but he doesn’t mind. He thinks she’s adorable and beautiful no matter what she’s doing. They’re very close and intimate (but not sexually) for roommates, Oliver knows this, but he cares about her too much to wonder if they’ve ever pushed their friendship too far. Apollo starts off resting with them by Felicity’s side, but ends up moving up the bed to sleep curled around Oliver’s head like a warm furry crown. The cat doesn’t scratch or growl or hiss. He keeps his claws to himself. Occasionally he paws at the archer’s hair, but it’s gentle and more playful than anything else.

That evening, Felicity does take Oliver for dinner.

They can’t be asked to change into fancy clothes or formal wear, so they head to Big Belly Burger, where they’ve pretty much got a booth with their names on it now, considering how often they go there. Apollo waits at home for them but makes a good decision not to try and weave through their legs when they return, because their lips are locked and they’re tugging at each other’s clothes while panting raggedly, the passion and fire that’s been bubbling for over a year now finally igniting explosively.

Felicity is naked, splayed out on his bed and waiting for him to join her, when Oliver spots Apollo sitting in the doorway, his eyes eerily bright.

Oliver hesitates before taking off his pants. “He’s watching me.”

Felicity casts an impatient look over at the tabby, rolling her eyes. “He always watches you.”

“Can we close the door?”

“Sure, if you’re happy with him scratching and yowling the whole time,” she laughs. “He’s seen us both naked before, Oliver, I assure you.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want him seeing us having sex,” he whines. “He’s had it out for me the day I moved in as your roommate, Felicity, and he’s just started to like me! He’s so protective over you that he might try and savage me while I’m naked as soon as he sees me on top of you.”

Felicity quirks an eyebrow and props herself up on her elbow. Oliver grits his teeth as he attempts to keep his eyes fixed on her face and not wandering down lower. There’ll be plenty of time to show his appreciation of her body later, once he’s not worried about Apollo creeping on them. “That’s funny. You really think you’re going to be the one on top. Good one, Oliver.”

He flushes, that throbbing heat in his abdomen intensifying. “Felicity…”

“Okay, you can close the door,” she laughs.

Apollo does scratch at the bedroom door for a good five minutes, but then stops, much to their relief. When Oliver heads out to grab glasses of water for them both after several hours of vigorous activity, the cat is lying half-asleep on the windowsill. Apollo immediately leaps down to tail him back into the bedroom. Oliver doesn’t stop him. After all, Apollo does basically whatever he wants, and he respects that. They’ve reached a sort of truce.

The next time Oliver and Felicity go for dinner together, it’s their first date. Oliver’s tie has been nibbled at the end by the cat, but Felicity claims that it gives it more character.

Apollo joins them in the Foundry occasionally, coiled up on Felicity’s lap as she protects Oliver while he’s in the field from behind her monitors and keyboard.

The day Oliver moves in officially as Felicity’s boyfriend and not just her roommate, the mischievous tabby takes a shit in the archer’s old bed. It doesn’t matter though. He won’t be using it anymore.

Apollo falls in love with William immediately. It takes a little longer for him to warm up to Mia, but that’s only because the baby sometimes tugs on his tail.

So one of Oliver’s roommates becomes his soulmate, his wife and the mother of his children.

The other remains an occasionally sulky, capricious sock-stealer and bed-hogger who’s reluctant to share said soulmate.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed!
> 
> tumblr: @alexiablackbriar13  
> twitter: @lexiblackbriar


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